An Incident of Gravity
by cloud1701
Summary: Friendship has its ups and downs.
1. Chapter 1

Roy looked up and up. He hated heights. His partner tugged him forward. "Roy will you come on? They're getting ahead of us." Hearing the screams, he gave a shudder and allowed his partner to drag him forward. At the base he had to crane his neck up just to see the top. It was making him dizzy. Once the safety harness was secured, he grabbed it in a death grip. Sweat was breaking out on his forehead as they slowly inched their way to the top. Johnny kept glancing back over his shoulder to check on him. Roy knew the harness would hold, however he couldn't seem to loosen his grip. As they neared the top, he closed his eyes for only a second when suddenly they were falling!

They plummeted to the ground in a heartbeat of the time that it took to reach the pinnacle. All he could hear was his pounding heart, and he let out a terrified scream. Just before the ground could end his fall he felt his harness jerk him hard to the side and then he felt himself going back up, only to begin falling again. His vision greyed. It was too much. It would be over soon. All he could do was hang on and pray he would make it safely back down to the ground. He shut his eyes and held on. Finally there was an abrupt jerk, followed a complete lack of movement.

"Roy? Roy, you can let go now." His partner shook his shoulder gently. He slowly opened his eyes to see Johnny grinning at him. He slowly let go of the harness and took Johnny's proffered hand to help himself up. Behind Johnny he saw the crowd thinning out and two impatient children hopping from foot to foot.

"Dad, Dad that was AWESOME! Can we go again? Please? Please?" Each child grabbed one of his hands and tugged him to exit. Johnny was doing his best not to laugh, but seeing the look on his partner's face was making it difficult. Joanne was waiting for them at the exit. Hearing the kids begging to ride again and seeing the expression on her husband's face, she quickly shushed them, reminding them that there were plenty of other rides in the park they hadn't been on yet.

When Chris looked like he would protest, Johnny jumped in. "Now Chris, you know your mom's right. We really should try ALL the rides before we start repeating them." Roy heaved a sigh a relief and shared a glance with Joanne. He could always trust his wife and partner to have his back. At least he thought he could before Johnny continued. "You do realize this place has SIX rollercoasters. That means FIVE more to go and we started with the smallest..." Joanne burst out laughing, while Roy could only stop and glare at his _former _partner. Seeing the glare, Johnny quickly said "I'll be right back, just need to run into the gift shop for a minute."

Joanne snuggled into her husband while they waited for Johnny to emerge. "I'm glad we asked him to come with us," Joanne said. "Look how happy the kids are. They would've been so disappointed if we had to postpone the trip because I was a klutz and broke my arm."

Roy gave his wife a quick kiss. "Yeah, what's one more kid at an amusement park anyways?"

Joanne gave her husband a light punch in the arm. "Now stop that! Johnny even drove us here so we wouldn't be crowded in my car. He's going on all the rides that I shouldn't so the kids don't have to ride alone, or argue who is going to be stuck with an empty seat next to them. I suppose they could've ridden together while we waited." Joanne tilted her head to one side and thought for a minute before continuing. "Nope. Maybe if they were a bit older, and if Jenny wasn't just squeaking by the minimum height requirements that could have been an option. Inviting Johnny was the best plan." She giggled then and said, "He really is a big kid isn't he?" Roy grinned in return and stole another kiss.

A few seconds later, Johnny bounced out of the gift shop with empty hands. He promptly went over to Roy and Joanne, relieving her of his camera. "We ready to go?" He asked.

Joanne and Roy glanced at each other. "I don't know partner. Are we? I thought we were waiting on you?"

"Well I'm ready."

"Didn't find anything to buy?" Joanne asked noting the lack of packages.

"Actually I did, but they offered to send the package to the front gate so I wouldn't have to carry it all day. Do you believe that Roy? I didn't know they did stuff like that. Did you? Hey kids, are you all ready for the next ride?" Johnny called out before giving Roy a chance to reply.

Chris and Jenny promptly abandoned their fountain watching and each grabbed one of their Uncle Johnny's hands. Both of them were convinced they had the best idea of where to go next. Joanne settled the matter quickly by stating they would work through each section of the park in the order they came to the rides. With much giggling and grinning, they moved on to the next attraction.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a long, exhausting day. Roy had been on every rollercoaster the park had to offer. He was sure he was going to be having nightmares about this day for a long time to come. Joanne's broken wrist was aching. Johnny was still squishing from getting drenched on the rapids ride. Chris and Jenny were nearly asleep on their feet. All Roy wanted to do was go home. Johnny mumbled something about picking up packages and headed into what Roy hoped was his final gift shop. Johnny had picked out small gifts for everyone and had them sent to the front entrance to avoid carrying them all day. He emerged a few minutes later juggling all the bags. Finally, they could go home.

Outside the exit, Roy asked, "What row were we in Johnny?" His friend's blank stare did not bode well for a quick escape. "You do know where we parked?"

"Of course I know where we parked Roy. I even wrote it down so I wouldn't forget it. Just give me minute …" Roy rolled his eyes heavenward as Johnny began juggling the bags and trying to search his pockets at the same time. A second later, Johnny dumped all the bags on Roy.

"Here, hold these for a sec. I know I have the paper." Triumphantly, Johnny pulled a soggy square from his pocket. "See its right here!" Johnny slowly opened the folded paper and squinted at it.

"Well, what row are we in Johnny?"

"Gimme a minute, just gimme me a minute. It's a little dark here. " By now Roy's whole family was staring at Johnny.

"Johnny….. " Roy's tone was swiftly becoming impatient. Hearing this, Joanne reached around Johnny and snagged the paper. All Joanne could see were squiggles from where the ink had run. She turned it around to show to her husband. Luckily for Johnny, Roy's hands were still occupied with holding all of the purchases.

"Hey Roy, why don't y'all just wait right here while I go get the Rover?"

Johnny was gone before Roy could get what he thinking out of his mouth. The chances of getting home soon seemed pretty distant now. If there was a wall nearby, he would be banging his head against it. It seemed like such a great idea to ask Johnny along when Joanne had broken her wrist. He could ride with one of the kids while Joanne waited. It seemed like such a reasonable solution at the time, invite Johnny or be forced to cancel the trip. He should have known by now that Johnny and reasonable were usually not on speaking terms. Joanne slipped her arm around her husband and slowly led her family over to nearby bench to wait for Johnny's return.

"Mommy, is Daddy really mad at Uncle Johnny?" Jenny asked quietly.

Joanne stared at her husband as she replied, "No honey, Daddy is just grumpy because he's tired."

"That's good. I don't like it when Daddy when gets mad at Uncle Johnny. "

"I'm not mad at Uncle Johnny, Jen. I'm just tired like your mom said."

Who wouldn't be tired with three energetic kids at an amusement park, Roy thought, especially when one of the kids was so adept at finding new ways to get themself into trouble. At least they had managed to avoid a trip to the parks first aid building.

After what seemed like an eternity, though in reality was only half an hour or so, Johnny pulled up in the Rover with a big smile on his face. "Ya see Roy, I told you I knew where the Rover was."

"Uh huh, if you knew where it was, why'd it take so long to get back here? " Roy asked. Johnny started sputtering while everyone climbed into the jeep. Roy yawned and took pity on his friend, "It's alright partner. Let's just go home."

It was a quiet ride back to Roy's home. Joanne and the kids fell asleep before they even made it out of the parking lot. Roy started snoring a few miles down the road. Johnny just grinned. He was tired but it was the best kind of tired – the kind that comes from spending time with the people you loved and thoroughly enjoying your day. His smile got even bigger when he thought about how he made sure that they would never forget this day.

A little over an hour later, Johnny pulled into Roy's driveway. The sudden lack of motion was enough to wake Roy. "We're home already? I must have been more tired than I thought." Roy rubbed his eyes and continued, "Guess we'd better get inside before the neighbors complain about us sleeping in the driveway."

Both men got out of the rover, being careful not to slam the doors. "Jo. Honey, we're home." Joanne woke up slowly and mumbled something about unlocking the door so they could carry the kids in. As she headed up the porch, Johnny and Roy each reached for a kid. Jenny turned right into Johnny's neck without even waking. Chris on the other hand, woke up when Roy touched him. Declaring himself too big to be carried like a baby, he staggered into the house and up to his bedroom. He was fast asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Once Jenny was in her room, Joanne shooed Johnny out and started getting her daughter ready for bed. Roy didn't have the heart to wake Chris again and just pulled a blanket over his son after removing his shoes.

He headed back downstairs where he found his partner rinsing out his empty glass. "Johnny, you want to spend the night?"

"No thanks Roy, I'll just head on home now."

"You sure you're ok to drive? I don't want you falling asleep behind the wheel. "

"I'll be fine. I got my second wind now," Johnny said. "I'll see you at station. Night, Roy. Give Joanne and the kids a kiss for me."

"Johnny you call me when you get home. I want to make sure that once I fall asleep, I won't be woken up by any calls from Rampart informing me my partner was involved in an accident."

Seeing how tired his partner was, and knowing if he hung around much longer he would be taking Roy up on his offer, Johnny quickly agreed and headed out.


	3. Chapter 3

The remaining two days off went by in a blur. Before Roy knew it, he was back at the station getting changed for his shift. He had just finished tightening his belt when Johnny followed closely by Chet raced in. The shift hadn't even started yet, but they were already trading barbs with each other as they quickly got changed. Before either of them could try to pull him into their "discussion", Roy said a cheerful hello and left in search of the coffee he could smell.

"Hey, Roy how were your days off? Did you have to cancel your plans?" Marco inquired.

"Real good Marco. Joanne's wrist is much better and Johnny joined us for the trip to that new amusement park so we didn't have to cancel. "

"Did I hear you correctly Roy? You took Gage with you to an amusement park? Weren't two kids enough for you?" Captain Stanley asked while Mike looked on.

"Joanne and I didn't want to disappoint the kids. Since we weren't comfortable with them going on the rides alone, we asked Johnny to join us." Once again Roy was struck by how something that sounded so reasonable managed to turn into an episode of _The Three Stooges_. Shaking his head, he just sipped his coffee. The trip was over. He had survived. His family was happy. Johnny was happy. It was in the past. Time to move forward.

The other men in the room shared a look. They knew there was more to that story. If they were lucky, they might even find out. Johnny and Chet chose that moment to join them. Or they tried to anyway, since both of them had attempted to get through the door at the same time.

"Gentlemen!" Hank bellowed. "One at a time! Roll call in five." With much muttering between the two, Gage and Kelly finally managed to get through the door.

"Twits", Captain Stanley thought as he rolled his eyes and headed to his office. It was going to be one of those shifts.

Johnny had barely sat down when he jumped back up. "I'll be right back Roy. I forgot Dixie's present in the rover. And I got something for you too."

Roy just shook his head and wondered where Johnny got his energy.

Johnny ran back in the door with a small wrapped gift and a larger package. He quickly grabbed the coffee out of Roy's hand, replacing it with the bigger item. Before Roy could protest, Johnny had finished his coffee off and headed out to the squad. Snickers could be heard around the table.

"Well, I guess we better get out there too" Mike said.

The rest of the guys agreed as they finished their coffee and pushed back their chairs. Roy left the package on table figuring he would look at it after roll call. He completely missed Chet, aka the Phantom, staring at the package as if it contained all the secrets of the universe. Or maybe he was just salivating over the possibilities it could contain. Before the crew could make it out to the apparatus bay, the tones went off.

"Squad 51, woman down, 21205 Water Street, cross street E 213th. 2-1-2-0-5 Water St. Time- out 0804."

Captain Stanley tore off the call slip and handed it Roy. As the squad pulled out, sirens wailing, the rest of his crew lined up for roll call. Once the day's assignments were handed out, the crew moved off in various directions to begin their chores. Chet watched them go, the whole time edging closer to the break room. As soon as they were out of sight, Kelly ran to the table and snagged the envelope. Quicker than a kid at Christmas, he had the contents dumped on the table. With a look of disbelief, Kelly pulled out a chair and sat staring. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Slowly a big grin spread across his face followed quickly by laughter. "Guys! Guys! You got to come see this!"

"Kelly! Was that package meant for you?" Cap asked when he arrived.

"Uh Cap, Johnny gave it Roy…"

"And you felt the need to open it for him?"

"Cap– you really have to see this…" Kelly began as the rest of the guys arrived.

Marco and Mike each grabbed an item off the table and stared. After sharing a quick look to reassure themselves they were really seeing what they thought, they quickly dissolved into laughter.

"Don't you twits have any respect for Roy's privacy?Gimme that." Cap said as he snatched the photo out of Chet's hand and began to stuff it back into the envelope. He stopped abruptly when he saw what had everyone laughing so hard.

"Is that ROY?!" He tried to keep his own laughter in check but was failing miserably.

"You see Cap. These are pure GOLD! Just look at 'em!" Chet couldn't believe the ammunition the Phantom had spread out in front of him. He rubbed his hands together in glee, thinking quickly of all the potential uses.

"You mean there's more?" Cap asked between bouts of laughter. For the next several minutes the crew passed the photos back and forth. By this time, they were all red faced and wiping away tears of laughter.

Suddenly Chet jumped up exclaiming "Cap! I've gotta make some copies of these before DeSoto and Gage get back. Is it OK if I use your copier?" Mike and Marco quickly added their pleas for copies. Cap got himself under control and trying to sound stern replied "These were supposed to be private, not passed around and copied." Once again laughter threatened, and he took a deep breath and continued. "Chet, make me a copy too. The wife isn't going to believe this without proof."


	4. Chapter 4

Not long after, the squad pulled back in. As soon as Roy and Johnny got back to the station, they noticed the unnatural quiet. Cap met them at door to the day room and gave them their assigned chores for the shift. They noticed Cap's face was redder than normal, and he kept clearing his throat. Behind him, they heard someone start coughing and gulping for air.

"Cap, everything OK?" Roy asked.

"What makes you think anything is wrong?"

Roy and John just exchanged a look. They knew something was up and figured they'd find out what it was sooner or later.

Johnny headed for the dorms to start changing the sheets. As Roy went about his assigned tasks, he noticed that every time he entered the day room, the other four guys found some reason to be in close proximity. It was really starting to put Roy on edge, and he almost wished for a call so he could talk to Johnny about it.

Roy was really looking forward to a cup of coffee when he finished his chores, but the odd behavior of his shift mates was making him wonder if he should just wait until a run took them to Rampart. He shook his head at the thought. The guys wouldn't do anything malicious. If the Phantom was going to make an appearance, he would rather get it over with than have the bizarre stillness continue. Besides, if anyone should worry about the Phantom, it was Johnny. He'd grab a coffee and sit back and enjoy whatever prank was going to be sprung on his partner.

With the exception of Johnny, the other guys quickly joined Roy in a coffee break. Mike sprawled on the couch with the day's paper. Cap was doing his paperwork at the table, while Chet and Marco were playing a game of checkers. The silence continued.

"Anyone seen the department newsletter?" Roy finally asked. If it was going to be quiet, he might as well read that article that caught his attention last shift.

"It's on the bulletin board Pally."

As soon as Roy turned his back, everyone stopped pretending they were engrossed in their various activities and watched Roy scanning the board.

They knew the exact moment he saw the picture. Unfortunately for Roy, he had just taken a large swallow of coffee. The coffee spewed everywhere as he began to cough violently. As soon as he could get a full breath he screamed, "JOHNNY! Get in here – NOW!" He yanked the photo down while behind him he heard the gales of laughter.

"Roy, what's wrong?!" Johnny asked as he slid into the room.

The laughter just got louder. He could tell Roy was furious at him, but he didn't understand why or why the guys thought it was so amusing. He backed up until he hit the wall. "Uh, Roy? What's wrong? He asked nervously."

"What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG?! This is what's WRONG!" Roy yelled as he shook the picture under Johnny's nose.

Johnny's eyes widened. It was picture from the first roller-coaster they went on. In it, Roy was hanging on to the harness, eyes shut, mouth wide open in a scream – a look of sheer terror on his face. Beside him was Chris with a huge grin on his face. Johnny and Jenny were behind him, also looking like they were having the time of their life.

"This? It's from the park."

"I know it's from the park! What I want to know is why I found it hanging on the bulletin board!"

"The bulletin board?What was it doing there? It was in the packet I gave you this morning."

"Well it sure as hell isn't in there now," yelled Roy.

Johnny was stunned. He never expected that the photo would upset Roy. Dumbfounded, all he could do was stare at Roy.

Seeing how flustered his paramedics were, Cap swallowed his laughter. The rest of the crew quickly realized that the joke had backfired.

"Roy? You OK Pally?" Cap asked.

Roy just stood there, too embarrassed to turn around and face his still snickering friends. Finally, he crumbled up the picture up and tossed it into the garbage. Without a word, he left the room.

An awkward silence filled the room. No one was accustomed to seeing their calm and controlled paramedic upset – especially when his partner was still in one piece.

Gage was the first one to shake off the shock everyone was feeling. Slowly, he stalked over to a certain stunned lineman.

"CHET! Did you open the package I gave to Roy?"

Chet jumped up so quickly he knocked his chair over.

"Now Gage, I was just straightening up in here and happened to drop it. I just wanted to make sure I didn't break anything…" He trailed off as Johnny lunged around the table after him. The chase was on.

Cap slowly picked up the packet meant for Roy. "I think this had better stay in my office for now. Go and make sure those two don't damage each other." He too exited the room.

Marco and Mike didn't have to look too hard. It was easy to follow the sound of the squabbling. The Phantom was definitely in trouble.

"Come on Johnny it was a joke! How was the Phantom supposed to know Roy would be so sensitiveover a picture?"

"Well maybe the Phantom should learn to keep his hands off of other peoples stuff! " Johnny yelled as he lunged over the bed trying to get his hands on Chet. Mike got a hold on Johnny and Marco quickly grabbed Chet and steered him out of the dorm.

"Lemme go, Mike! It's time the Phantom learned a lesson. "

"Not till you calm down and listen to me." Mike said quietly.

Johnny grumbled some more, but then made a visible effort to get himself under control. Seeing this Mike, relaxed his grip on Johnny.

Johnny spun away abruptly and sank onto the bed. He put his face in his hands and let out a deep sigh."Mike what am I going to do? I can't remember the last time I saw Roy this angry."

"You weren't the one who put a copy on the bulletin board, and you weren't the one who didn't stop it either." Mike replied.

"Man, I wish Roy would … COPY?! Are there are more of those photos out there? " Johnny leaped up from the bed with a stricken look on his face. "Where are they, I gotta get 'em before Roy thinks I …, I don't even wanna know what'll he do if he sees…How many did Chet make? What'd he do with them. I'm going to really get him for this stunt. It was supposed to be a surprise for Roy! Something he could remember the day by, and how much fun it was! Now what'd he do with them?"

"Settle down Johnny. Cap took the packet into his office – no one will get their hands on it again. I suspect he's also confiscated all the copies. Now why don't you go find your partner?"

Johnny's shoulder's slumped and with a sigh he went looking for Roy.


	5. Chapter 5

Roy sat out back in his car listening to the traffic on the 405 and thinking. How could Johnny do this to him? He was embarrassed enough when he came off that coaster. He knew that his family definitely would tease him about for years to come, but it wouldn't be in front of people he had to work with. People whose respect he didn't want to lose. The crew needed to trust each, not start thinking he he'd fall apart every time heights were involved. He closed his eyes and leaned back further in the seat, a massive headache was starting. Just what he needed on top of the rest of this mess.

Johnny found Roy outside, but before he could go over to his friend the tones blared. In under a minute, the engine and squad were headed out to their call. It was a quiet ride with Roy only acknowledging Johnny's directions. Once on scene, the entire crew worked as seamlessly as ever and soon had the blaze under control. The home owner only had some minor burns and scratches and refused a trip to Rampart. He assured the paramedics he would see his own doctor and scrawled his signature on their refusal of treatment form.

Johnny and Roy packed up their gear, climbed back into the squad made themselves available .

"Hey Roy, about that picture…"

"Not now Johnny, I really don't want to talk about this."

"But Roy, I didn't …"

"Later Johnny."

The rest of the ride back to the station was made in silence.

Unbelievably Station 51 was having a quiet day. Any other time they would be enjoying the respite, but with Roy avoiding all of them and barely speaking, it was not turning into a pleasant shift. One by one, the crew approached Roy to apologize but he just waved them off. Cap finally had enough of it and called Roy into his office.

"Shut the door, will you pal. Have a seat."

"Cap, I really don't want to discuss today." Roy told him.

"Well that's too bad, because I do. I have to admit we're all at loss regarding your reaction to the picture. Care to tell me what the issue is?"

Roy squirmed in chair for moment before answering. "I just don't like you and guys seeing me like that."

"Like what? Having a good time? Enjoying your days off with your family? "Cap was seriously puzzled.

Now it was Roy's turned to looked puzzled - "No, like panicked, afraid of a rollercoaster ride. I don't want the guys to think I'll freak out whenever heights get involved. They need to know they can trust me to do my job."

"THAT's what this whole thing has been about, you twit? When have we ever expressed doubts about your ability? All of us trust you implicitly. You think one lousy picture is going to alter our entire view of you?"

Roy hung his head as he realized how he'd blown this whole thing out of proportion. "Guess not, Cap. I suppose I wasn't really thinking at all. "

"Now that we have this little matter cleared up, why don't you take a few minutes a look through everything Johnny had in the packet for you. You can use my office. Maybe afterwards you can do something about getting those hangdog faces off the crew for me." Cap tossed the packet onto the desk as he walked out, closing the door behind him.

After a few seconds of staring, he ran his hand over his face, and finally reached for cause of today's debacle. He gingerly removed several items. Right on top was the dreaded rollercoaster picture. As he flipped it over he found a note Johnny had written on back, "My best pal and his kids – on one of the most fun days I've ever had." Roy hung his head and swallowed. Carefully, he placed the photo front side forward against the pencil cup where he could see it before continuing. There were some more rollercoaster shots – when did they start putting cameras on those contraptions to begin with? Shaking his head in bemusement, it came to him that these photos must be the reason Johnny was continuously running in and out of the gift shops at the rides' exits. That partner of his never ceased to amaze him. He did all right under my nose too, Roy thought. I never even suspected what he was up to.

The final item was a photo album. Roy took his time going through the pages. Now and again certain photos elicited wide grins but every last one of them was smile worthy. Closing the book, Roy leaned back in chair and admitted to himself he had caused the whole crew unnecessary grief over a harmless prank. He gathered all the items together and carefully repacked them. Joanne was gonna love this, the kids too. However, it was time to go out there and do some serious apologizing, especially to Johnny. Heck, he didn't even have anything to do with tacking up the photo on the bulletin board. The only thing he was guilty of was giving his partner a wonderful gift. He also should have known better than to leave any unopened package anywhere near the Phantom. The temptation was more than he could handle. It was time to go eat some crow. Come to think off it, with Chet cooking tonight, crow was probably the most palatable item on the menu.


End file.
